Morning Update: Dove disses female athletes’ looks; Guardian cuts 268 jobs; Asos replies with rap
Ad Week: Dove’s New Billboards Criticize the Way the Media Discusses Female Athletes’ Looks
When it comes to commentary about female athletes, media outlets often focus on their looks rather than their performance on the field and that has got to stop, according to Dove’s latest campaign.
In the next evolution of its “My Beauty, My Say” effort, the brand has partnered with former gymnast Shawn Johnson to call out this behavior and encourage the public to challenge the media to do better.
Poynter: More than 250 staffers at The Guardian have accepted buyouts
A total of 268 employees are taking buyouts at The Guardian as the paper attempts to stem more than $227 million in losses from the last financial year.
The newspaper is losing some of its most prominent leaders and bylines in the exodus: Aron Pilhofer, the The Guardian’s executive editor of digital, is joining Temple University as the school’s James B. Steele Chair in Journalism Innovation.
Creativity Online: ASOS’ Reply to a Customer’s Rap-Style Complaint Has Gone Viral
Sometimes a brand really rises to the occasion on social media, and the result is a viral hit. That’s happened to U.K. fashion retailer ASOS this week, and it was all the result of a customer complaint.
The customer, DJ Jay Whalley, wrote to ASOS about a returned item of clothing, and decided to get creative. Instead of a normal letter, he crafted a rap, based on Eminem’s “Stan,” about his FCUK jacket, and sent it via Facebook. The lyrics start off…
Ad Age: General Mills Starts Creative Agency Review Across All U.S. Retail Brands
General Mills is reviewing its creative and production/content work across all its U.S. retail brands, Ad Age has learned.
The food giant’s decision to review its creative agencies and production and content agencies comes a month after the company said it planned to trim its U.S. marketing spending again this year.
Campaign Live: The IOC may give host nations greater access to Olympic brand following criticism
Greg Nugent, the former chief marketing officer of London 2012, criticised the IOC in Campaign this week, arguing that national and local governments need to be given the same access to the Olympic brand as commercial sponsors if it is to secure long-term public support for the Games.
His comments came a week before Rio 2016 begins, and after various potential host cities have cancelled their bids following lack of public support for the event. For example, last year, both Boston and Hamburg withdrew bids to host the 2024 summer Olympics due to poor public support. Oslo and Stockholm cancelled their bids for the 2022 winter Olympics.
Mumbrella Asia: APAC e-commerce transaction abandonment rate is the world’s highest – and rising
Shoppers in Asia Pacific are more likely to abandon their online purchasing activity than anywhere in the world, according to data from remarketing firm SaleCycle.
A Q2 report from the firm, which measured cart abandonment and remarketing data from over 500 global retail, travel and fashion brands, found that the rate at which people desert their online transactions in APAC is 76.3%, above the global average of 74.5%, and is up from 75.9% in the first quarter of the year.
Campaign Live: TBWA\Media Arts Lab poaches Saatchi & Saatchi’s De Bauw to lead London office
Starting in October, De Bauw will oversee the agency’s daily operations and lead the senior management team in London. Her remit will also include Europe and the Middle East. She will report to Mike Litwin, executive director of international, who is based in the network’s Los Angeles headquarters.
De Bauw will replace Tom Hares, who left in March to found a start-up called Buzzbike.
Campaign Live: Premier League begins hunt for global media agency
The world’s most lucrative league in terms of media income appointed its first ad agency this year, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, and is now looking for a media shop to plan and buy campaigns in different markets.
It is understood the Premier League is handling the media review directly. The Premier League had originally planned to launch a campaign to coincide with the start of the new football season in August, but it is understood this will now not happen until January.
Dove’s, so called, calling out of this behaviour, seems more to me like a grandstanding, designed to draw attention to the product.
The comments referenced, are all cheap and low sexual ( maybe even sexist) comments. they have nothing, let me say it again: They have nothing whatsoever to do with comments upon beauty.
Athletics and sport in general has to do with fitness and youth, this means that young men and women who are in top performance form, will generally look physically wonderful.
I am a devoted follower of The Hockeyroos, who in match trim, are among the most beautiful collection of women on the planet, they also play world class sport and win many accolades for their great skill.
Comment upon beauty is not necessarily the concern of the athlete, male or female; as usual, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, long may it be so, and long may we delight in it. Cheap sexist shots are the coin of worthless rabble.
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